Remembering What's Important
by Kristen3
Summary: Belated birthday fic for Mary (Jan2StaMuse). Daphne has a very scary encounter in a grocery store parking lot, but, luckily, Niles always knows exactly how to comfort her. One-shot. Mostly fluff.


**Author's Note:** I'm sorry I didn't get this up sooner, but I did want to do something in honor of Mary ( **Jan2StaMuse** )'s birthday last week. Of course I'll use any excuse to write a little N/D hurt comfort-y fluff! :) Thanks to Leigh Ann ( **leighann415** ) for reading a partial draft of this!

Daphne breathed a sigh of relief as she made her way to the car. Shopping was done, and now she could go and get David from school before returning home to Niles. The checkout line had been insanely long, which made Daphne even more anxious to get home. She reminded herself that it was all behind her now as she put her key in the ignition and got ready to pull out of her parking space. One of her favorite pop songs came on the radio as soon as she turned it on. Love songs never failed to make her think of Niles, and that made her stressful shopping trip seem even farther behind her.

She began singing along, now feeling almost upbeat. Picking David up from school and hearing about his day was always one of the things she looked forward to most.

But Daphne's joyful mood was abruptly ended when she heard a loud noise as she turned from the spot where she'd parked. A quick glance out the window made the truth horribly clear: she'd misjudged how close she was to the car next to her, and had scratched the vehicle. "Bloody hell," she said to herself, turning off the radio.

Panic began to well up as she realized she had no way of knowing whose car she had hit. Even if she went back into the store, how would she find the person? There must be hundreds of people in there! Tears formed in her eyes, and Daphne did her best not to let them fall. _I wish Niles were here_ , she thought. Her husband always knew the best way to comfort her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a man's voice. "Hey, lady, don't you know how to watch where you're going when you drive?!"

Daphne looked up to see a very angry man standing beside her car. She could see he was gesturing for her to roll down the window, but she couldn't do it. It was bad enough seeing and hearing him through the closed window.

"Do you even _have_ a license? Seriously, how did you pass a road test?"

It became even harder to control her tears. Daphne wanted to fight back. A thousand answers were in her head, but she knew if she even tried to voice one of them, she would begin sobbing instead.

The man walked over to the other car. Daphne watched, horrified, as he used his keyless remote and made the car's headlights flash. Of all the vehicles she could've damaged in this lot, why had she chosen this one?

"This is ridiculous!" the man yelled. "I'm calling the police!"

When she realized this man was going to involve the authorities, Daphne knew she couldn't do this alone. Trembling, she pulled out her cellphone and managed to dial Niles at work.

"Don't tell me David got _another_ award from the principal!" Niles said with a laugh when he answered. "We're running out of room for all the ribbons."

Daphne knew he was making a joke, but she couldn't laugh at the moment. "No. I haven't even been to David's school yet. I'm still at the grocery store. I- I had a little accident."

"My love, are you hurt?" Niles asked, with concern suddenly in his voice.

"No. I'm fine. The other car was parked. The owner saw me do it, and he's awfully angry. He's calling the police right now. I didn't mean to hit his car!"

It was clear to Niles how upset his wife was. He promised he'd be there as soon as he could. He quickly made a call to his father, asking if he could bring David home from school. Then, Niles gave his secretary the rest of the day off, once she rescheduled his last remaining patient.

Daphne hung up the phone, trying to focus on the fact that Niles was on his way. But the angry man was still there, shouting at her. Daphne took a deep breath and rolled down her window at last. The man asked for her insurance information. It took a moment before Daphne remembered that Niles had carefully placed it in the glove compartment.

"I'm awfully sorry, sir," Daphne said as she handed the man her insurance card.

"Yeah, well, sorry ain't going to fix my car!"

Daphne didn't know what to say, but thankfully, she didn't have to say anything. A police car pulled into the parking lot, its lights flashing. For a moment, Daphne was frozen in panic, but just behind the cop was Niles' familiar luxury car. Just the sight of it made Daphne relax a bit.

It didn't take long for the cop to find them. He stopped and parked his car in a nearby open spot. "OK, what happened here?" the officer asked when he got out of the vehicle.

"That lady hit my car!" The man pointed at Daphne.

Daphne got out of her car, hoping the officer would have some sympathy. "I didn't mean to!" Daphne repeated, hating the way her voice trembled.

A moment later, Niles had parked his car and walked over. He was momentarily started by the sight of his precious car, but he very quickly realized it was his wife who was far more in need of help at the moment.

When Niles and Daphne made eye contact, they were drawn to each other like magnets. Daphne clung to him, grateful he'd come so quickly.

"You're her husband?" the police officer asked.

Niles nodded. "Yes. Dr. Niles Crane."

"Niles Crane?" the cop asked. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Marty Crane, would you?"

Niles grinned. "That's my father. Daphne took care of him for over eleven years."

"Ah," the cop said. "Marty never shut up about how proud he was of his two sons. So, what happened here, ma'am?"

"Well, I was pulling out of me parking space, and I guess I didn't see how close that car was," Daphne said. "I heard a loud noise, and I stopped. I started to panic. I mean, how was I going to find the person whose car it was?"

"All right. If you don't mind giving me your information for the report," the police officer said.

Daphne nodded and went back to the car to retrieve the registration and paperwork.

While Daphne was distracted, the driver of the other car came over to Niles. "So, your wife smashes into _my_ car, and you don't even care? And I suppose you think that since you know the cop, your wife can just get away with this!"

Niles did his best to remain calm. As a psychiatrist, he knew that was the best way to keep the situation from getting worse. "On the contrary, I'm fully prepared to take care of this incident as quickly as possible. Luckily, I have very good auto insurance. It was just an accident. My wife is a very careful driver, I assure you."

Daphne came over and handed the information to the officer. "I'm so embarrassed," she said. "I usually don't do things like this I-"

"My love, nobody's perfect. It's all right. I'm just glad nothing happened to you!"

"Your husband's right," the officer said. "Cars can be fixed. The main thing is that you're OK. And this guy ought to know that," The cop gestured to other man, who was still ranting about the damage to his vehicle.

"Are we free to go?" Niles asked. "We have a young son who's at his grandfather's right now. We'd really like to get him home."

"Yeah," the cop answered. "I've got all your information here. Just tell Marty I said hi, OK?"

"Will do," Niles said, smiling and shaking the cop's hand. "Let's go get David and go home." He kissed Daphne for a long moment.

The kiss made Daphne forget everything she'd just been through. It was a reminder that, no matter what, Niles was always there for her. It never ceased to amaze her. She truly was lucky. Even if this experience had been scary and unpleasant, it had reminded her of what was important. It was something she could never forget.

 **The End**


End file.
